Building a successful business requires more than delivering high-quality content, services, or products. Understanding how to effectively reach your intended audience while communicating a direct message is key to spreading the word of any business or brand. Learning how to gain exposure for your business online can help you succeed whether you are premier home builders or if you are an orthodontist looking to find new local clients.
What is Online/Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is the use of online tools, solutions, applications, and platforms in one’s online growth strategy. Digital, or online marketing, is used to effectively spread awareness about a business or brand to a particular audience or demographic. Digital marketing methods can range from traditional banner and text advertisements to fully-immersive and engaging influencer promotions and sponsorships. Learning about digital marketing is one of the fastest methods of how to gain exposure for your business, regardless of your industry or niche.
Top Marketing Methods
Before you begin promoting your services as an electrician or advertising your preschool, it’s important to familiarize yourself with some of the most popular marketing methods and strategies used today. Not all marketing methods are useful for every brand. The more you know about each individual marketing strategy, the easier it will be for you to determine which methods are suitable for your business goals.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
When learning how to gain exposure for your business, you must first become familiar with SEO, or search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is one of the leading tools used by programmers, developers, and marketers alike. With a fully optimized website and online presence, boost your website’s official search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and DuckDuckGo. The higher your website appears within the search engine’s results, the more traffic and exposure your website will receive.
Search engine optimization is not solely reserved for larger businesses and brands. In fact, local doctors and auto repair shops can also take advantage of local SEO marketing solutions. Local SEO tactics focus on honing in on specific audiences and demographics based on zip code or a particular region.
Content Marketing
If your mission is to learn how to gain exposure for your business, you should not miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in the realm of content marketing. For some marketers, content is still considered king when promoting a business or brand online.
Content marketing provides a unique voice to a business or brand. With the right content marketing strategy, it is not only easy to establish an authoritative voice, but it becomes much easier to gain the trust of visitors and prospective clients.
Creating a content marketing strategy is not as simple as regurgitating the same articles that have been published time and time again. Instead, it requires unique, engaging, immersive, and informative articles that are helpful or useful to those who read them. Settling your brand apart from the rest is much easier when you have an array of pieces of content that cannot be found anywhere else on the web.
Social Media
Social media is a leading form of digital marketing used today. With platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and even Pinterest, it is now possible for businesses and brands alike to potentially reach millions of users from around the world. Using social media is ideal for a local commercial roofing company or professional doctor looking to establish credibility in their respective industries. It is also ideal for those interested in sharing plumbing services or promoting local auto repair shops to a specific audience.
Using social media is also a way for a brand to establish an international following, depending on the type of business or brand that is being promoted. Promoting products, sharing information, or even creating unique videos can help any business to spread the word about its services and offerings.
Traditional Third-Party Advertisements
If you are thinking about going a traditional route when it comes to digital advertising, you can do so with third-party advertisements and advertising platforms. Various advertising platforms today make it easier than ever to begin promoting a specific website or URL. Whether you are interested in using graphics, such as banners or animations, or if you want to stick to text ads, traditional third-party advertising is also ideal for boosting SEO, or search engine optimization.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is another method of online marketing that has become increasingly popular in the past decade alone. Reach out to blogs and websites that are relevant to your own to inquire about sharing guest blogs or hosting a blog of theirs on your own website. Exchanging content and sharing authoritative voices with partnerships is one of the quickest ways to establish yourself online while in the process of building an audience.
Influencer Marketing
Since the rise of social media and platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, influencer marketing has now become more popular than ever. Influencer marketing involves working with an online influencer who has amassed tens of thousands of followers to millions of followers on social media. Influencers will promote specific websites, businesses, and brands in exchange for a certain fee, depending on the number of followers they currently have as well as their particular niche and reach.
Cause Marketing
If you are searching for a way to help your business or brand stand out in a competitive market, consider turning to cause marketing. Cause marketing involves choosing a charity or cause that is important to you or your business to help promote and/or represent the cause itself. Some brands choose to donate a particular product for each sale that they generate, while others may donate a percentage of the proceeds they make during a particular sale or promotion. Cause marketing is ideal for a local law firm that is trying to establish itself or a private preschool attempting to reach a particular audience.
If you are launching a commercial roofing company or if you represent a local law firm, knowing how to gain exposure for your business is one of the best skills you can have. When you are familiar with a range of digital marketing strategies, tools, and methods, you can devise a strategy that is more likely to generate the success you envision for your brand.
Top SEO Marketing Tips
When your goal is to draw attention to your brand and you want to learn how to gain exposure for your business, you will also need to familiarize yourself with SEO tactics. Incorporating SEO into your website’s pages, updates, announcements, and blogs can go a long way in boosting your website’s overall ranking in top search engines. A few SEO marketing tips to keep in mind when you are just getting started with SEO yourself include:
- Choose the right voice: When selecting a voice for your website, be sure to do so without sounding too robotic, rehearsed, or disconnected. Consider the demographics you intend to reach with your website and online presence to choose a voice that is appropriate for your brand. Connecting with your visitors and prospective customers on a personal level is often key to long-term loyalty and the ability to generate sales.
- Research targeted keywords: Educate yourself about keywords and phrases that are most popular in your target market or niche. Follow trends to determine what content is most likely to become popular in the coming weeks and months.
- Research your competition: Research competitors in your industry to learn more about specific keywords (short and long-tail) as well as phrases that are being targeted most often.
- Build relevant links: Creating both inbound and outbound links within the pages and articles on your website is key for SEO purposes. Insert relevant links to external pages and sources while also spreading internal links throughout the pages you create as well as any new blogs you publish.
- Avoid keyword-spamming: Avoid spamming keywords and phrases onto a page at once. Write naturally without forcing keywords. Always verify that keywords and phrases make sense and do not sound spammy whenever you are publishing a new page or article on your website. This will help to build trust among your visitors.
- Follow search engine algorithm updates: One of the best ways to stay ahead of changes when it comes to SEO is to stay updated with search engine algorithms. Even if you are not a programmer or developer yourself, spend time in online forums to learn more about potential changes that may immediately and directly impact your website’s ranking within top search engines.
How to Promote Your Business or Services
On your journey of learning how to gain exposure for your business, you will need to spend time getting to know more about your target audience. Promoting any business or brand requires an in-depth understanding of the target audience and the intention or mission of the brand itself. When you are learning how to gain exposure for your business, there are a few tips to keep in mind, depending on the type of business you are in the process of building.
Establish Your Online Presence
Whether you are a freelance electrician, offer local plumbing services, or if you are representing premier home builders, you will need to begin by establishing your online presence with an official website. When you are getting started with your online presence, keep the following tips in mind:
- Research domain names: Registering a domain name that matches your business name is essential. Always take the time to research domain names and potential competitors if you are still working on a name for your business. Streamlining your online presence and your actual business name will help with building trust among your audience.
- Build an official website: Once you register a domain and choose a trusted web host, you can begin building your official website. An official website will help your business to appear more trustworthy and reputable, especially if you are launching a website for a local establishment. Be sure to include your address as well as additional contact information that is relevant to your business on your website.
- Take advantage of social media: Using social media to your advantage is highly recommended, whether you are promoting a commercial roofing company, a local law firm, or auto repair shops near you. Social media pages not only help to spread the word about a business or brand, but they are extremely useful tools for SEO, or search engine optimization purposes. Help others find more information about your business and what you have to offer by setting up streamlined social media pages with the same name across the board.
Schools and Local Service Providers
Any local business such as auto repair shops, a commercial roofing company, an orthodontist, a preschool or even a local law firm can benefit from focusing on localized keywords and SEO marketing. Additionally, it is also highly recommended to establish a social media presence if you are an individual professional in your niche or if you are looking for ways to establish your business in a specific location. Using social media is ideal for schools and local businesses, as it provides a platform to connect and communicate with locals.
Law Firms and Doctors
Law firms and doctors can also benefit from using digital marketing techniques. Launching an official website, updating local information within search engines, and even creating informative and authoritative content is a great way to get started. Establishing one’s presence online can go a long way when it comes to attracting new clients and receiving referrals in the future.
Learning how to gain exposure for your business is essential whether you intend to reach a wide or niche audience. If you are creating unique commercial signage for your business or looking to garner clients for the plumbing services you offer, familiarizing yourself with digital marketing is a must. Once you are well-versed in the basics of digital marketing, streamline your online marketing efforts using the platforms and tools that are most suitable for you.
